The trio played the show earlier in the evening before being brought back out near the end of the telecast for a congratulatory video message from President George W. Bush and to receive their Opry member awards from Dickens.

“(We are) blessed, honored, humbled, grateful — those are words that come to mind when I stand right here on this famous circle in the Grand Ole Opry House, and we are going to do this honor due diligence,” guitarist Joe Don Rooney said after receiving the trophy.

The Opry’s general manager, Pete Fisher, described the trio as “trailblazers” and “outstanding representatives of the kinds of people we want to have in the Opry family.”
And the men couldn’t be happier to finally be a part of it.

“It’s one of those things where you go, ‘What do you do now?” bass player Jay DeMarcus said earlier that evening. “This is one of the greatest achievements … in our careers.”

The members’ extended families all made the trip for the induction – DeMarcus’ and singer Gary LeVox’s from Ohio and Rooney’s from Oklahoma.

“We’ve been so blessed, and we’re grateful to have the success we’ve had,” Rooney said. “Rascal Flatts has so much more to say.”

After the induction, the Opry had its own celebration. A towering birthday cake was wheeled out and balloons dropped to the stage as the night’s performers sang “Happy Birthday.”

Vince Gill invites Rascal Flatts to be the newest members of the Grand Ole Opry. (Photo: Dipti Vaidya/The Tennessean)

Members of Rascal Flatts got the surprise of their lives on Tuesday night when in the midst of an Opry performance at the Grand Ole Opry House, Vince Gill walked out and, after joking around about a bet on a golf game, invited the guys to become the Opry’s newest members.

“He’s here sometimes when we play, and when I saw him walking the guitar out, I thought he was just being funny,” said guitarist Joe Don Rooney, who teared up at the invitation.

Flatts’ members have long been vocal about their desire to be Opry members, and they say the invitation is a dream come true.

The guys in Rascal Flatts are spending Father’s Day on the road this year (their new Flatts Fest tour kicked off in Virginia on Saturday), but it’s a sure bet they won’t be away for long. For years, the bandmembers have booked tour dates only a few consecutive days of the week so they can be home with their families.

“I think my best quality as a dad is that I can be a really great friend to her as well,” DeMarcus said. “While I hope that she loves and respects me as her father, I hope that she sees me as a cool dad that plays music for a living and is somebody she wants to hang out with. And I think I can be that kind of a father to her.”

Rooney, father to Jagger, 3, and Raquel, 9 months, says patience is his biggest virtue.

“I’m a pretty patient person all around the horn and I have pretty good patience when it comes to these kids,” he said. “Raising babies is not easy. I try to just be as … warm as I can as often as I can. And lots of love. It’s all about the love.”

Click to see a gallery of photos from the 2011 CMT Music Awards (this image of Jason Aldean and Ludacris: Larry McCormack/The Tennessean).

The CMT Music Awards were a one-two punch for country newlyweds Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert on Wednesday night, though neither of them was in the house to pick up the trophies. Shelton, who was in Los Angeles filming The Voice, was recognized for Male Video of the Year for his No. 1 “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” and Best Web Video of the Year for “Kiss My Country (Expletive).” With two awards, he was the evening’s top winner.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this, this is unbelievable,” Shelton said via satellite from his judge’s chair on The Voice. “I wish I could be there in Nashville today … I’m honored all you fans gathered together and voted me (for male video). I want to thank mostly all the fans, and oh my gosh, I can’t believe Shania (Twain) gave me an award.”

Lambert’s video for “The House that Built Me” won Female Video of the Year, but she wasn’t able to collect it because she was touring. Trey Fanjoy, who directed the videos for both “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” and “The House The Built Me,” completed the Shelton/Lambert triumvirate, capturing the win in the Video Director the Year category.

Taylor Swift’s “Mine” won Video of the Year, the evening’s top award, at the fan-voted show. She delivered her acceptance speech from the stage during a show in Wisconsin.

“Did you hear that you guys?” she asked her audience. “Oh my gosh … I don’t even know what I did to deserve you guys, but you have made so many things in my life happen, and I just love you.”Continue reading →

Over the course of the dinner, the celebrities will serve guests, sign autographs and accept donations. In addition, patrons can participate in a silent and live auction that will offer up a slew of high-end prizes. Proceeds from the evening go to benefit The Kevin Carter Foundation and The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Since the event’s inception, more than $1 million has been raised for charity.

Reservations for the evening are $500 per person, and can be made by calling 742-3193.

The event, set for March 28 at Hutton Hotel, is an invitation-only black-tie evening that unites members of the entertainment, business, sports and medical communities to raise funds and awareness of cancer research at 10 top research hospitals in the United States including the Frances Williams Preston Laboratories at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus will receive the Tony Martell Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award. Dean will be given the spirit of Nashville award for his daily leadership and skills in handling last year’s flood. Adams will collect the lifetime humanitarian award, and Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine, will receive the lifetime medical achievement award.

Rascal Flatts will offer fans an inside look at the band and their music, as well as introduce viewers to a couple of famous friends on Saturday during their hour-long concert special “Rascal Flatts: Nothing Like This Presented by JCPenney,” which will air 8 p.m. on ABC.

Bedingfield’s portion was filmed during Flatts’ live concert taping in St. Paul, Minnesota in January and Bieber shows up during never before seen footage from Flatts’ video shoot with the teen for his song “That Should Be Me.” An extended clip of the Flatts/Bieber video will also air on the show.

“We wanted to bring out all the bells and whistles,” said singer Gary LeVox.

But that’s not all they brought — LeVox also had his daughters Brittany, 10, and Brooklyn, 6, in tow.

“I wouldn’t have been able to come home if they girls couldn’t have come (to meet Justin Bieber),” he laughed. “They even made the television special.”

When Lyric Street folded, Disney made provisions for Flatts -- who still had one record left in their contract -- to have representation with one of the company's other record labels. But after some thought, the band members felt they needed Nashville representation. Disney gave the OK for Flatts' Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox and Joe Don Rooney to shop for a local record label.

"As we looked at all of our options we felt like our vision and our focus for the future was more in line with (Big Machine Label Group president/CEO Scott Borchetta’s) philosophy than anywhere we could have gone," bassist DeMarcus said Thursday. "We are really, really thrilled because we honestly feel like Scott is the best at what he does.”

But the label switch isn't the only news out of the Flatts camp: The trio’s Big Machine debut, Nothing Like This, is scheduled for a Nov. 16 release, and the project's lead single, "Why Wait," hit country radio at noon today (July 29).

"I think it's kind of a Rascal Flatts musical rollercoaster, melodically and lyrically," singer LeVox said of the CD. "It's the strongest body of work we've ever done."

LeVox said the band’s favorites include a duet with Natasha Bedingfield and a song called "Won't Let Go."

"We are happy," guitarist Rooney said. "It's really hard to get (to) 10 years in this business and we are so blessed to be here. We just have an unstoppable force in our hearts to make great music."

The band is currently performing on its nationwide 10-year anniversary tour, also called Nothing Like This, with Kellie Pickler and Chris Young opening.

Arlos Smith claimed to write Rascal Flatts No. 1 song “Mayberry” on a fishing trip with his college fraternity brothers. Members of the country trio laughed and countered that he wrote it while drunk at a strip club.

Obviously someone is a little tongue-in-cheek in the re-telling.

The good-natured humor from the songwriter and Flatts was in line with the light-hearted nature of Rascal Flatts’ Wednesday-evening songwriter celebration. Band members Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus wanted to recognize the 80 or so songwriters who have contributed work to the group’s six studio albums. So the guys booked the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum and threw a big party with food, plaques and performances.

“We just wanted to say thank you,” LeVox said. “We don’t just have professional relationships with these cats, we have personal relationships with them, too. We are always touring and they are always writing and they are always traveling and we are always traveling, and after 10 years of being able to do what we love to do it’s a big huge milestone. We just wanted to get them all in here to say thanks for a wonderful 10 years.”

But the trio did more than that: They asked the writers to each to bring along two songs to pitch for the band’s next studio CD.